


Never gonna give you up

by Jade_Pearl



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, M/M, Organized Crime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:09:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29267019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade_Pearl/pseuds/Jade_Pearl
Summary: "A soulmate is a person with whom one has a feeling of deep or natural affinity.This may involve similarity, love, romance, friendship, comfort, intimacy, sexuality, sexual activity, spirituality, or compatibility and trust."__________________________Through thick and thin, Mary and Nathaniel knew they could always count on their soulmates.
Relationships: Marc Anciel/Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4
Collections: MarcNath Fics!





	Never gonna give you up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Marc_Anciel_Fan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marc_Anciel_Fan/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Feel My Heart Beat](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4670753) by [Delmire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delmire/pseuds/Delmire). 



> Hello darlings💖
> 
> I know, it's been a while huh? I recently started working and it's been kinda kicking my ass, so I haven't had as much time for writing, but a few days ago was the lovely Marc_Anciel_Fan's birthday and I promised a fic. So I have delivered.
> 
> Happy belated birthday, Nyx!!!🍰🍰🍰🥳 Sorry this is late 😅
> 
> Funny story, I started this early hoping to finish on time.
> 
> Nikki and Mary are not mine, Nyx was gracious enough to allow me to use them. I may have changed them a bit as I'm not too familiar with their characteristics but I hope I still did them justice. 
> 
> The idea for the Pull, was inspired by a Delmire fic which I will link. It is not MLB it from a manga called Finder Series. Don't read the manga if you're not okay with the mafia boss makes x individual addicted to them and vise versa, trope. Please, just don't.
> 
> Now, the warnings. PLEASE READ, I AM NOT ACCOUNTABLE IF YOU SKIP THIS PART!!
> 
> There is a scene where a character is sexually assaulted and almost raped. It starts after "...dragged her, shocked and frozen into the alleyway." and ends with the victim killing their would-be rapist. You could probably skip to, "The man's hand had slipped..." to avoid the sexual assault. If you do skip it and the part after is confusing, let me know I'll summarize what happened as best as I can. 
> 
> This is a no miraculous AU. (I seem to really like those huh?😅)
> 
> If I missed anything, or anything's confusing let me know. I'm doing everything from my phone, so somethings are a little tricky.
> 
> I think that's everything. Please enjoy!!
> 
> Edit: I legit just noticed I forgot to put their ages. Their all in their mid to late 20s here. Eyeballing it at somewhere between 25 and 28. Nath and Marc have been together for almost 6 years, Mary and Nikki have been together 4 years at this point.

_"A soulmate is a person with whom one has a feeling of deep or natural affinity.This may involve similarity, love, romance, friendship, comfort, intimacy, sexuality, sexual activity, spirituality, or compatibility and trust."_

__________

_God, she hated these things._

Looking out at the sea of intoxicated, glittery bimbos and overdressed snubs, from the third floor balcony, the noiret couldn't help the sneer of disgust that spread across her lips. These missions were the worst. Give her assassinations, poisonings -hell, bloody, outright brawls were more fun than this! _Anything_ was better than playing the sweet, airheaded, ditzy arm candy, for some old, limp braggart or noodle wrist, sweaty, pervert! Getting groped and squeezed was _not_ worth the pay. And she didn't even get to kill anyone. Her sneer shifted to a pout for the briefest of minutes, before she settled her face back into the mask of a sweet, dimwitted, airhead.

M. Herbert came up behind her not even five seconds later. She pretended startle when he wrapped his arms around her, when she'd already heard him coming from at least twenty feet away.

"Oh! Fernando, you startled me!" She 'whined' and slapped his arm. Fernando Herbert, the bastard that he was, just laughed at her 'scared' expression and cooed at her. _If she hadn't given her word on this assignment, she'd rip his tongue clean out of his head._ Doing her best to not let any of her true thoughts show, Mary graciously accepted M. Herbert's 'apology kiss', ignoring the near overwhelming urge to gag. _'Do it for the mission, Mary. Just do it for the mission.'_

It was hard and almost physically painful, but at least she wasn't suffering alone.

+=+=+

Down on the ballroom floor, Nathaniel was viciously cursing out everyone he could. Absolutely no one was spared, whether they were involved in this mission or not. But he especially cursed out his and Mary's significant others. If they hadn't decided to take this mission for them, they wouldn't be here suffering. _High profile case, his ass!_ He'd been stuck in conversation with the daughter of some big name, self important, tycoon for the last half hour or so, and it was taking all of his control to _not_ smack her clear across the ballroom.

No one wanted this job, and they all knew it. Nath and Mary had, begrudgingly, accepted tonight's case on behalf of their significant others, to help them get information on the latest, up and coming, traffickers in the area. They didn't _need_ to. The police force had an excellent infiltration team that _could_ have done this easily. The _problem_ was time. Their target was notoriously paranoid, and had very little interaction outside of their inner circle. Anyone so much as _suspected_ of being disloyal was terminated. Permanently. Thus, it took a very long time to even _meet_ the target, much less interact with them or their inner circle. Which is where Nathaniel and Mary came in. 

With Nathaniel's skills in disguise and infiltration, and Mary's skills of persuasion, it wasn't hard to get invited to M. Herbert's bi-annual gala. From there it was an excruciatingly boring, but unfortunately necessary game of schmoozing and charming the other guest until they caught the attention of the inner circle. Step one was completed not long after they entered; Mary had caught the attention of M. Herbert the younger, easily. Meanwhile, Nathaniel was stuck with the obnoxious, spoilt daughter of an inner circle member. 

_The things he did for love._

+=+=+

His whole life, Nathaniel had wondered what finding his soulmate would be like. Despite researchers finding that only 30-50% of the population ever found their soulmate in their lifetime, Nathaniel couldn't help imagining a half a million scenarios where he met his. What could he say? He'd always been a romantic. 

It was all just fantasy though. Not only was he too busy to feel -much less pay attention to- the Pull, but letting someone, _anyone_ into his life was _asking_ for trouble. He mused about all of these as he weaved the sights of his rifle from window to window; counting the bodies and adjusting his plans to suit. _It was strange_ , he mused, _he'd always sucked at numbers, but put a rifle in his hands and he could tell you the exact trajectory needed to hit a target at any angle and distance._ He huffed in amusement before finishing his count and settling in. These missions usually involved a lot of waiting, it would be very bad if he killed the wrong target at the wrong time. Not to mention clumsy and disgraceful for someone of his esteem. This was fairly routine, almost boring, work for someone like him, but that was no excuse to slack off. 

This was boring work sure, but it was still a three million dollar hit. Anthony Lambert, an up-and-coming big name in the business world, had been playing 'fixer' for a great number of mobs and dirty, government officials. He used the favors garnered to fund his own agendas, which his 'business partners' let slide because it was simply the way of their world. However, he'd been weaseling his way into more and more underground work, and had been trying to form his own gang of sorts. This caused a bit of friction in terms of relations, but all parties involved let it slide until he decided he wanted the 'big seat'. He started to actively attack and overtake others' products and 'businesses', and so he had to go. 

+=+=+

It was disturbingly easy to find out about tonight's 'meeting' at the docks. So much so, that Nathaniel had arrived several hours earlier than he usually would, just to stake out the area and prepare.

After three hours of waiting, almost all of the 'guests' for tonight's meeting had arrived. Just when his legs had started to go numb, the man of the hour, himself, had arrived. He waltzed in an entire hour after the meeting was scheduled for. An obvious -and stupid, so fucking stupid- attempt at proving that _he_ was the one in charge. 

Nathaniel scoffed as he did a recount and mentally readjusted his escape route. _The audacity of this guy was unreal. Easiest three mill, he'd ever make._ It was almost laughable, how easily he'd offed the arrogant prick. One quick shot and his body crumpled; all the guards scrambled to protect their bosses and find the threat, but Nathaniel had already ducked for cover. It was as he was making his escape that he felt _it._

Everyone knew, instinctively, what the Pull felt like. Even if they'd never felt it, or paid much attention to it, everyone knew it. Nathaniel, the romantic that he was, had always imagined what his Pull would feel like. A gentle tug, shy and playful all at once, leading him gently to the one he was destined to give his heart to. Sometimes he imagined it would be a bit more aggressive, more desperate, tugging and _yanking_ at him, offering no choice but to drop everything and find his destined _right now_. He'd felt as though he'd imagined every kind of meeting under the sun, but nothing, absolutely nothing, could compare to this. This feeling, it was urgent and playful, aggressive but shy all at once and it made his head spin and his legs numb. 

He stumbled to a halt on the rickety stairway, leaning against the grimy wall as he strained to regain his balance and control his breathing. There was a band wrapped tight around his chest, crushing the breath out of him the longer he tried to ignore it. This-this feeling, it was unlike anything he'd ever imagined. It was so, so tempting to turn around, run back, out into the open to find his soulmate. The urge was a persistent itch beneath his skin, but he steeled himself. Now was _not_ a good time. He needed to go, _now_ , or he'd miss his window of opportunity.

As he left the stairway he barely missed being caught by a group of police officers heading toward the docks. He hadn't noticed them in the area, nor were there sirens at any point. That most likely meant that they'd been staking out the area.

 _'Just my fucking luck!'_ He thought. _'My easiest hit, just so happens to be a police operation!'_ It didn't help that his soulmate was also in the area. That meant they were either affiliated with a gang, or they were a cop.

Just his fucking luck.

+=+=+

Nathaniel Kurtzberg had, by his standards, had a pretty normal life. He and his mom lived fairly modestly, Ima even had her own restaurant. He had a few friends at school, and had hobbies; normal things, so more or less, life was good. Until his Father decided that it was time for him to stop, 'playing around' and start learning the ropes of the business. 

Nath had long ago given up on dissuading his Father to find another heir, or come up with another solution, so after a bittersweet summer, Nathaniel said goodbye to his Ima and got into the limo that his Father had sent to take him to his new life. He was to attend Institut Le Rosey, a very 'prestigious' and expensive boarding school, known for churning out the creme de la creme of the finest of society. ' _The old man must have sold an arm and a leg for this.'_ Nath thought sardonically. He didn't care. He was only going along with his Father's wishes to protect Ima, not that she needed it. But his Father _could_ make their lives supremely annoying, so he played along. 

Nathaniel was notoriously introverted and didn't care for much outside of his art, eventually his Father would see that he wasn't fit to be an heir and he'd move on. One his daughters had to get married at some point, and since they'd only ever marry a man that 'Daddy dearest' approved of, the old man would be set. Nathaniel just needed to hold out for a little while. 

At the end of every term he went home to Ima and spent his break with her. They'd catch each other up on their lives and just hang out. Father wasn't giving up on Nath being his heir, in fact he seemed to buckle down more harshly on him with each term that passed without Nath making 'valuable' connections, or getting in with the 'right' crowd. He berated Nathaniel when he turned down the daughter of one of his Father's business partners, refusing to accept his excuses. He _hated_ when Nath spoke about soulmates most of all. 

Nathaniel's Ima and Father were soulmates, but his Father had rejected her on account of her being unworthy of a Corbin. Needless to say, Nathaniel's relationship with his Father got no better after that, it got worse even, especially when his Father started blaming his Ima for 'the way he'd turned out'. With every visit Nath made home, his Father's ire appeared to grow until it was an infernal flame that consumed them all. 

It all came to a head the summer before college. Nathaniel had managed to get into one that not only satisfied his Father's herculean standards, but also offered him a chance to study art. It had been the greatest news yet and he couldn't wait to share it with Ima. Something strange had been happening at home lately and even though Ima didn't want him worrying, he couldn't help it. She was never one to hide things from him, believing that he should know what the world was like, but she'd been downplaying the situation back home he just knew it. Whatever was going on had her pretty stressed as well, so this would give him a great excuse to pamper her in the guise of a celebration.

He saw the smoke first. It was very hard to miss it. The sound of the sirens came next as the limo pulled up to the barricade that had been set up in front of their apartment. The limo hadn't yet stopped but he was already out and running. ' _No. Nonononono! Please. Please not her!'_

The officers stopped him before he reached the barricade but Nathaniel still struggled in their grip. He was crying and screaming, begging and pleading with anyone that would listen. He needed to find her; needed to know that she was okay. Please.

+=+=+

Hours later, he felt nothing but numb as he sat in the hotel room his Father had, had prepared for him. He'd been sick with hysteria earlier, so the numbness was a blessed, welcome change. He didn't know what to do now. She was just gone. Just like that. And it wasn't fair.

The officials had quickly -too fucking quickly- written it off as a domestic accident. There would be an investigation, just to determine that it wasn't arson or insurance fraud. Nathaniel knew his Father would do everything to get that sped up and out of the way. He couldn't prove it, but he _knew_ deep down that this entire incident was connected with his Father somehow. He just couldn't prove it. Yet.

He pulled out the card that had been hidden in his Ima's jewelry box. It had a name, a number and only said, 'Call him.' Ima knew that something was going to happen to her, and had made preparations for him it seemed. 

Outside, the world continued to move on. He knew Ima would want him too as well, and he would. Eventually.

"Hello, Zeyde. My name is Nathaniel Kurtzberg. I believe Ima wanted us to finally meet." 

+=+=+

Naomi Kurztberg came from a very long line of assassins and hitmen/women. Of course this information was way below the public radar; below _any_ radar for that matter. No one knew just _who_ they were. There was never anything that could connect them to any of their missions. The family's alter identities had become something of an urban legend wherever they went. They were notorious for only accepting hits for those they believed deserved it. The true scum of the earth. At any hit perpetrated by them, they made sure to leave proof of the victims crimes. Everywhere.

As the years went by, Nath split his time between his family and his Father; learning from both sides and growing, molding and shaping himself. He became a big name in the art community while, with his Zeyde's help, learning just enough about business to get by and please his Father. He didn't want to, but Zeyde insisted that it would be useful on missions. He was always right.

Nathaniel had made quite the name for himself. When he was deemed ready for solo missions, he donned the moniker of the Illustrator and became infamous in his own right. 

This however, was why he was currently having a breakdown over ice cream on his Egyptian cotton sheets. His mind was stuck on a litany of 'no' and 'what the fuck'. The chances of his soulmate _not_ being a gangbanger or a cop were _less than 1%_ . This was very, very bad. It was good, great, fantastic, wonderful, but also so, _so bad._ Just because they only went after people that truly deserved it, didn't give them any leeway in the eyes of the law enforcement. After all, it was only a matter of time before the 'rush of power' went to their heads, right?

He didn't blame them. It must be hard for an outside to tell the difference between a killer with a moral compass and one without. They were all probably just lumped under a broad banner; they were just doing their jobs. Nath groaned and rolled around on his bed; these thoughts did nothing to help his predicament. He needed to do something about this, he'd waited his whole life for his soulmate there must be someway around this, he just needed to rest on it. Mind made up, he stashed his midnight snack and switched.off the light. A solution would come to him, he was sure. 

Luckily-or unluckily, depending on who you asked- Nath had simultaneously been given no time and too much damn time to think about his soulmate, since there was a lot of clean up to do after the Lambert situation. It wasn't until weeks later that he'd thought properly about his soulmate and that thought was that they were too close. Which made no sense since he was in his room at the family estate, but there was no mistaking that tight, pulsing grip around his chest. His soulmate was close, very, very close. 

He felt the Pull leading him out of his room and down to Zeyde's study, he could do nothing but follow it, it was intense. Unlike anything he'd ever known. He had just enough presence of mind to knock before letting himself into his grandfather's study. When he entered he heard a gasp and looked up, locking eyes with the most beautiful person he'd ever seen. Their lips, which were the rosiest pink he'd ever seen, were spread wide in shock before they disappeared behind a fine, long bonded hand. They had eyes so vibrant he'd be hard pressed to find a colour that compared. They were mesmerizing and- maybe a bit glassy? 

The person dropped their hand and he could see the grin that had bloomed across their face as they looked at him. Intuitively he knew that his face was no better. They were here, his soulmate was here, in his house and if he'd had the presence of mind for it, he'd probably have freaked out over that. Instead he was hyper focused as the person stood and took quick, long strides toward him before engulfing him in a tight hug. 

"I finally found you." They -he, whispered. Looking down he saw the pulsing in his peripheries as their heartbeats synched.

The constricting feeling in his chest continued to grow until it just popped. Nath had never felt anything like he did in that moment. There was so much joy and relief, but more than that. It was- it was indescribable in its intensity. He felt the shoulder of his shirt getting warmer and wetter and realized that his soulmate was crying. He almost panicked, but then he realized that he'd also started crying. He didn't know what to do, he'd never felt anything quite as strongly as this, so he held on. He held on and vowed to _never_ let go.

+=+=+

Three hours of schmoozing later, Nathaniel had not only endeared himself to several guests present, he'd also managed to convince the silicone limpet -uh, Mlle. Vanessa Richter, to introduce him to her father. He'd seen Mary and M. Herbert disappear into the VIP area half an hour ago, and once he'd been introduced it was only another half an hour before he himself was being led into the VIP area. 

Within minutes he'd managed to garner the attention of everyone in the room. He had them all eating out of his palms; stage 2 successful. He couldn't see Mary or M. Herbert the younger anywhere in this room, and guessed that they'd traipsed off further into the mansion. With a quick, sirrupitous glance at his watch he surmised that they had a window of roughly twenty minutes. He'd do everything on his end to ensure that Mary wasn't disturbed.

+=+=+

Fernando Herbert had to be the lightest of lightweights, that or she'd overdone it with the sedative. _Fucking rookie mistake._ At least the drug was untraceable, now she needed to get to work, there was no telling how long he'd be out for but she gave herself roughly fifteen minutes. Not a lot of time, but still doable.

She removed her earrings and connected them to the main power line in the room; three steps diagonally right from the door, just as in the blueprint Max had drawn up for them. When the earrings were attached to the cable she removed and separated a portion of her hair comb, and attached one end of the elastic to the earrings, and the other to her bracelet. All Max's inventions. The earrings contained nanotechnology implants that would discretely copy any information it collected, siphon it through the nanofibers in the elastic from the hair comb, into a storage bank in her bracelet. 

Since they couldn't risk alerting the system security of their presence they couldn't afford the extra time that carefully selecting documents would take. 

After fifteen minutes, she had no idea just much info was copied and stored but she couldn't risk wasting anymore precious time. Any extra information would just have to be wheedled out of loose tongues. After allowing a final transfer to go through, Mary disconnected the gadgets and put them back on. As she was putting the last earring back on, she heard a door down the hall opening. She quickly moved back to the couch M. Herbert was on and administered the antidote to him. Quickly stashing the packages, she had just enough time to place them both in a lying position -her on top of him-, before she heard the door to the room opening. 

What followed were the most suspenseful minutes of her life. _The things she did for love!_

+=+=+

Mary had always prided herself on her realistic outlook on life. A 'the glass is half full and half empty' kind of girl. She didn't believe in things as trivial and flimsy as Fate. She understood the 'science' behind such beliefs just fine, but she'd be damned if she let it dictate her life. She'd let too many things dictate her life before. Those days were long gone, and if she had any say, they were never coming back. 

Bottom line was, Mary was the last person who expected to meet her soulmate. The chance of them bumping into each other was so slim that she'd never paid it any mind. Afterall, people spent decades of their lives actively searching, following the Pull wherever it took them, and rarely succeeded. Yet, here was Mary, who actively ignored the Pull, staring gobsmacked, literally gobsmacked, at the hand of the petite lady in police blues, where it was clasped in hers. Instinctively, as if drawn by a magnet, her gaze turned to the matching pulse of light emanating from both of their chests. 

_'Fuck my life.'_

_+=+=+_

It was in high school that Mary had decided to live her own life, and not the one strictly dictated and selected for her. 

She'd had the absolute worst of days. Not only had she come second in her class, on the monthly roster, but the extra credit that she'd requested (on the 'suggestion' of her parents) had taken much longer than expected, which meant that she'd missed the last bus to her stop. The next bus after took her close enough, but she still had a longer than usual walk to go. So she was tired and right pissed -for possibly the first time in her life- when she was jumped. She hadn't noticed anyone else along the way, hadn't known the guy was here until he'd dragged her, shocked and frozen, into an alleyway. 

The man twisted her arm around before slamming her face first into one of the alley walls. In no time flat she'd been divested of her bag pack and had a knife pressed to her throat. "What's a pretty little thing like you doing around these parts at this hour? Not that I'm complaining." He slurred, before pressing what was most definitely an erection against her back. 

"Please! Please, no!" She'd never begged so quickly or desperately in her entire life, unfortunately her captor seemed to revel in her pleas. He groaned hoarsely, before pressing himself more firmly to her back. She tried to bargain with him, offer him whatever meagre amount was in her wallet, her credit card, ransom from her parents, anything. Anything to make him stop. This, however, seemed to only irritate him.

"Quit your yapping, and be a good girl, before I tear you a new drinking hole." He said, slowly pressing the blade of the knife into her skin. She felt the cold press of steel against her throat as her senses narrowed down to that one point. Hyper aware of the sharp edge as it scraped against her skin. Warmth bloomed along her neck as blood slowly seeped from the line left in its wake. She stilled immediately, fearful of upsetting the man and risking further injury. She felt sick as the man's free hand roamed around her body. Starting at her chest, he disappointedly mumbled about her having "Nothing to please a man, up top." She couldn't help the tears of pure terror when his hand continued to roam, lower and lower. She could feel his disgusting, ragged breathing on the back of her neck; the length of him pressed flush to her back and she fought a gag. The blade of the knife was an ever present warning.

She couldn't fight the flinch and shudder that ran through her when he grabbed and harshly groped her behind. 

"Aha! That's more like it." He crowed, grabbing an ample handful and _squeezing._ "Here's a little something for a man to hold on to." She was crying in earnest now, but he hardly paid her any attention except to press the knife more insistently against her throat. Through her hysterical daze she registered his hand leaving her before the sound of a buckle being undone filled the alleyway. The hot line of his body was once again pressed flush to hers and she could feel the unmasked heat from his waist go down. It hit her then that this was really happening, this wasn't a cruel, and unusual nightmare. It was real. 

The man's hand had slipped below her skirt, his grip on the knife wavering ever so slightly in his excitement and he'd backed up a bit to get better leverage. She took the chance then and gripped his arm, yanking it and the blade down with her. In his shock she was able to take the knife from him. Everything after happened so quickly, but she remembered the look of disbelief on the man's face before it changed to terror, then pain as she got him down and stabbed him repeatedly in his neck and everywhere within reach. 

Eventually she stopped and scrambled off of his stiff, cold body. She stared in horror at her hands. _What had she done?_ She saw her entire future going down the drain, if this was discovered. Panicked and at a loss she found her phone and called the one person who had always helped her. It took her a few tries, but eventually she was able to make the call.

"Bluebell? It's after 10." The voice of her aunt Jocelyn released all her pent up emotions and within seconds she was sobbing hysterically over the call. She could hear her aunt panicking and trying to talk to her but she couldn't reign in her tears. The entire ordeal had taken a toll on her and it was all coming out now. The last thing she remembered was the feeling of being wet and cold before mercifully passing out.

When she came to, it was slow, like her mind was stuck in a syrup trap. It took a while, but she did register that she was warm, so warm. As her other senses came around someone opened a window letting light and fresh air into the room. Opening her eyes slowly to protect them from the glare, she saw her aunt walking toward her. She couldn't read the look on her face and that made her nervous. Apparently there was no need for that, Aunt Jocelyn sat down on the edge of the bed and offered her something she'd never expected. 

"Do you want revenge, child?” Aunt Jocelyn had asked. Mary didn’t know how to respond to that. The man was dead, what more was there. But something in her still ached, bitter, sad, frightened. It cried out for revenge. The look on her face was answer enough.

"What do you know about the Huntress?"

"It's the name of a criminal?"

"Close." Aunt Jocelyn huffed. She smiled at her and patted her hair. "The Huntress was a serial killer, so named for the way she caught and displayed her victims, with their sins carved into their bodies." She was fascinated, but confused. _Why was her aunt telling her this?_

"They should have found it by now." She helped Mary out of bed and took her to the living room where the news was on. Confused, she tried to ask her Aunt what was happening when the broadcast caught her attention. There on the screen, was the very man that had assaulted her just last night. It has been dark, sure, and her memory was still hazy, but she'd _never_ forget that face. For as long as she lived it would follow her. Before her mind could spiral into full panic, she heard her aunt mumbling the 'sins' apparently carved into his body and connected the dots.

 _"Do you want revenge?"_ She'd asked her. There was only one answer to that. Mary was tired of her life not being hers.

+=+=+

After that day, she'd trained consistently with her aunt; becoming an infamous assassin in her own right. Even earning her own moniker, the Midnight Rose. 

That was why, when she'd seen the light marking the pretty little officer as her soulmate, she ran. She couldn't get involved with a cop. Not only was it dangerous, it was absurd. So she ran, and never looked back, ignoring the voices behind her. 

She'd thought that, that would be the end of it. Oh, how wrong she was. It seemed as if the little cop was everywhere now. No matter where she went, Mary felt and saw her soulmate. Eventually, enough was enough. When the little idiot followed her on a stake out and almost got injured, Mary decided to put an end to things. Permanently. Or, she had planned to. The next day the cop met her in the park, and before Mary could say anything the cop -Nikki, proceeded to give her a dossier of all the information she'd gone to collect at the stake out, complete with inside information about the target. 

"I know what you are. Or, rather who, Midnight Rose." She said. Before Mary could go full defense, Nikki continued, "It's ok. I'm not all that different. In fact, this is so much better than ok. You'll see." 

And see she did, it turned out that her soulmate was full of surprises. She was an auxiliary member of the Cheng family, the biggest, most connected family in the world, who were running the underworld with an iron fist. No one had any proof, not even those in the underworld were certain, but no one was willing to risk it. The few who were, were never seen or heard from again. Nikki and her best friend - a direct, bloodline Cheng, the fuck- had both wanted to work in law enforcement. This gave them, and therefore the family, easier access to confidential information. More to it, they seemed to actually enjoy their jobs. 

As time passed Nikki's constant positivity and personality wore away at the wall of ice and steel around Mary's heart, until there was a perfectly Nikki shaped hole there.

She hadn't even noticed until she was already hooked. She would wait up every night for Nikki's special goodnight text; her day wasn't complete if Nikki didn't message her randomly throughout it, just because. 

By the time Mary had realized what had happened it didn't matter anything. She'd known so much warmth, love and joy from Nikki, than she'd had in years. She never wanted to let go.

+=+=+

Nathaniel sat, parked on a corner a solid ten blocks from the Herbert Estate to minimize suspicion. The mission had succeeded as far they knew, but there wouldn't be any celebrations just yet. They needed to know how much information they'd gotten and if it was useful. 

"Come on, come on." He murmured, repeatedly tapping his fingers against the wheel. Nath was ready for this entire night to be over. He'd been dragged around like some oversized Barbie doll all night, and he could _still_ smell the overpowering perfume that Mlle. Richter favored. God, he'd kill for a long, hot bath right now. _'Maybe Rainbow would help...or join.'_ He thought salaciously.

"Ew! Get your mind out of the fucking gutter!" Mary laughed as she hopped into the passenger seat.

"As if you haven't done the same!" He scoffed, "You ain't so innocent either." He laughed, high on their success. They wouldn't let it get to them. Not yet; not before they'd properly secured the information and were bundled in their respective soulmate's arms. That was how they truly knew the mission was over. Neither of them could come off of 'mission debrief' mode without their soulmate; they were well and truly whipped, and loving every second of it.

They joked and bantered on their way to Nathaniel's family estate where they all resided half the time. After the briefing they handed the information over to Max to see what could be done with it, and their soulmate's dragged them away to their respective quarters.

"Come on, Moonbeam. I've already got a nice warm bath drawn, just for you." Nikki drawled, as she stripped Mary out of her outfit. She laid gentle kisses on every inch of skin as it was exposed to her and slowly, bit by bit the tension drained from Mary's body, like water over a stone. 

Nikki started at the back and left lingering kisses on her shoulders, first one then the other. She kissed a trail down the centre of Mary's back. She hissed and moaned at the sting when Nikki bit her and sucked at skin at the base of her spine. Nikki giggled before swiping her tongue over the spot in apology. She repeated the process on her front, starting from the bottom and going up. She left a trail of bites on Mary's thighs, her stomach, her breast. All the way up until she reached her lips, which she worried between her teeth before sharing a slow, lingering kiss with her soulmate.

Eventually they parted, out of breath. "So, Moonbeam." She said as she pulled away and began undressing, "How about that bath?" She teased before dashing for the bathroom with Mary hot on her heels. Nikki grinned and squealed with laughter when she was caught just outside the bathroom and Mary spun her around. She was glad she'd convinced Mary to give them a chance.

+=+=+

On the other side of the floor, the boys had a similar idea. Nathaniel leaned back against the tub while Marc sat fully in his lap and massaged the tension from his head, neck and shoulders. Every once in a while, Marc would lean down and press a kiss to Nath's face, neck or shoulders. They'd then exchange increasingly heated kisses as Marc grinded down on him.

"What'll it be tonight, Angel?" He asked after leaving a bruising kiss on Nath's neck. "Let me take good care of you, yeah. You'll just lay back." He pushed Nath's head back against the lip of the tub. "Relax." He grinded down, hard causing Nath to gasp and moan. "And let _me_ do all the work. Yeah?" A trail of bruising kisses was painted up his neck, the burn quickly soothed by the pass of a deft tongue.

"Mhm, yeah. You-you choose? I'm, _mn,_ I'm good with anything right now, babe." 

They exchanged a fond, loving look before Marc leaned down and Nath knew nothing else but warmth, passion and love that night.

God, he was so glad Marc had found him.

+=+=+

There'd be more missions, some more dangerous than others, but as long as they had their soulmates they'd be able to take on anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!! Before I forget, this may become part of a series because I am.very much attached to it now.  
> https://discord.gg/FRDXRe4WxR  
> ^NathMarc Multiverse Server. Come say hi. 
> 
> I'll see you on the next story, darlings!!


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